The Arizona sentinel., 1887-02-19
THE GAME OF WHIST.
Played for I5c Years According
 to Edmond Hoyle."
Originally Called ''whisk," It was Played by Plebeians Until HOyle Modified It and Made It Go Among
 the Purple.


 the Purple.
 To be at once the least known and the most famous person in the whole world; to leave name which forever remains a synonym for accuracy and authority, and which is daily on the tongues of thousands of people; to have written a work which is ranked among English classics and considered indispensable to every well-furnished library, is the unique position accorded to Edmond Hoyle, Gentleman. There are probably no readers of the Herald who have not often referred to him as authority, for to say that a thing is according to Hoyle," means that it is exactly right or correct and is applied to many things besides games of cards. And yet there are probably but few persons who use this phrase who have any knowledge whatever of the man they quote.
 It is more than two centuries now since this distinguished individual first saw the light of day. He was born in England in 1872, and was educated as a lawyer. In his earlier years the game of whist as yet was not known, but there was game named whisk, a very inferior and plebeian sort fgame, which also went by the name of swab- bers. It contained the possibilities of the royal game, but it. had not yet reached the purple. It was played by four persons, to whom twelve cards each were dealt, so that the beauties of the ''old trick'' were not involved, and the points were nine. Certain cards at some period of the game were entitled to sweep the board, hence the name of whisk, a small broom or sweep. Most people think we call the game whist because it is a silent game, and most of the dictionaries tell us the name is so derived. but this is an error. It is merely a corruption of the original name of the game, thus modified when it was first introduced into polite society. Edmond Hoyle, lawyer and gentleman, had greater genius for games than for law. He was probably of the same mind as the lawyer mentioned by Bulwer in '+Cax- toniana." q can," said the latter, make 95OOa year at my profession with much pain and difficulty. I can make the same amount at whist without great labor and with much pleasure. l, therefore, prefer whist
 Hoyle abandoned the law, took up whist, and became immortal, and more than fifty years after his death Byron wrote
 Troy owes to Homer what whist owes to Hoyle.
 He seems to have studied the game of whist for many years, and thus learned its great capabilities. He enlarged its scope by playing with the entire pack, fixing the game at ten points. He was a man of good education, moved in good society, and he soon made the game fashionable. He gave it a permanent, loglcal, and scientific form, called it whist, drew it from its ob- scurity, and gave it an authentic station in the polite world. This was about the year 1730. He became so skillful a player that people sought him as a teacher, and in the course of his teach ing he wrote out notes containing rules and directions for playing, which he sold to his pupils. In Johnson's ''Ram- bler," published in 1750, fine lady IS made to say: Papa made me drudge at whist until I was tired of it; and, far from wanting head, MT. Hoyle, when he had not given me above forty lessons, said was one of his best scholars. In the GentIernGrg'S Magdzine for February, 1755, in an autobiography, the writer says:
 "Hoyle tutored me in several games of cards''
 The novelty and great value of these manuscript rules were soon discovered, and surreptitious copies began to get into circulation, when MT. Hoyle, to se- cure his copyright, had them published in 1743, and in that way the famous work originated. It was entitled: "A short treatise on the game of whist Containing the laws of the game and also some rules whereby a beginner may, with due attention to them, at tain to the playing it well. Calcula tons for those who will bet the odds or